Herb-Crusted Salmon

This herb-crusted salmon is just one of the many, many salmon recipes on the site, a sign of its sheer versatility. This recipe stands out, though, because of its elegant simplicity. It’s topped with a mixture of herbs and fresh bread crumbs, and then baked until the crumbs are golden and the salmon is cooked. It comes together in under 30 minutes, so it’s quick enough for weeknight meals and pretty enough for company.

Ingredients for Herb-Crusted Salmon

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• Soft bread crumbs: Soft, fresh bread crumbs make a lighter, fluffier topping than the usual dry kind.
• Parsley: Parsley brings color to the crumb topping without adding a dominant flavor.
• Thyme: Thyme’s fresh, aromatic, peppery flavor complements salmon and many other foods.
• Garlic: Fresh garlic brings a bold, pungent flavor to the bread crumbs.
• Lemon zest: Lemon has an affinity for fish in general, and in this case the lemon zest also helps counter the salmon’s richness.
• Lemon-pepper seasoning: The lemon-pepper seasoning doubles down on bright, lemony flavors, but its pepper content gives the fruitiness a sharp counterpoint.
• Paprika: Paprika adds color and a mild, sweet pepper flavor to the crumb topping.
• Butter: Melted butter enriches the crumbs, adds flavor, speeds browning, and helps deliver fat-soluble flavor molecules from the seasonings to the fish.
• Salmon: Salmon’s fatty richness makes it perfect for baking, and provides a modest degree of protection against overcooking.

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the topping

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Heat your oven to 400°F. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs with the herbs, garlic, lemon zest, salt, lemon-pepper seasoning and paprika. Toss the flavored crumbs with the melted butter until the butter is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

Step 2: Cook the salmon

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Spray a 15×10-inch baking pan lightly with pan spray. Arrange the salmon portions in the pan, skin side down. Top them with the crumb mixture, patting it gently into place without compressing the crumbs unnecessarily. Bake the salmon until the crumbs are golden brown and the fish just begins to flake easily when tested with a fork, 12 to 15 minutes.

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Herb-Crusted Salmon Variations

• Swap the fresh crumbs for panko: Fresh bread crumbs have a light, fluffy, delicate texture that is quite different from conventional bread crumbs. If you’d like to keep the crumb topping light but give it a more pronounced crunch, switch to panko crumbs instead. Panko’s large crumbs mimic the size and fluffiness of fresh crumbs, but also give you all the crunch you could ask for.
• Change the fish: Although salmon is nearly ideal for this preparation method, you can use other rich, firm-textured fish as well. Sable (aka “black cod”) is an excellent choice. So are char and steelhead trout (close salmon relatives), if you can find those in large fillets. Fresh mackerel, and mahi mahi or albacore tuna, are other good options.
• Tweak the seasonings: This recipe’s thyme and lemon flavors go nicely with salmon, but you can change things up by altering the topping’s flavors. Dill is a classic salmon pairing, for example, and swapping out the thyme for dill is an easy substitution. You can also match your choice of seasonings to the side dishes you choose: perhaps cilantro and lime to go with Southwest-themed sides, or fresh basil and rosemary to accompany risotto or pasta.

How to Store Herb-Crusted Salmon

Any leftover salmon should be refrigerated as soon as possible in an airtight food-safe storage container.

Can I make this salmon with herb crust ahead of time?

Sadly, this isn’t a good candidate for advanced prep. The crumb topping will never have quite the same texture when it’s reheated, and it’s difficult to reheat the salmon without overcooking it. It’s already a quick recipe, at 30 minutes or less, depending on how quickly you work, so if time is an issue, you’d be better off choosing side dishes you can make ahead. If you prepare the crumb topping ahead of time as well and have your oven hot and ready to go, you can simply top the salmon and pop it straight into the oven for its 12- to-15-minute cooking time.

How long does the herbed salmon keep?

With fish dishes, you should always plan to eat any leftovers within 2 to 3 days at most. Pack the salmon into a food-safe storage container with a tight-fitting lid as soon as possible after the meal. Reheating your salmon in an oven or toaster oven (or even your air fryer) rather than a microwave helps restore the crumbs’ texture and makes the reheated dish more pleasurable to eat.

Herb-Crusted Salmon Tips

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Can I do this salmon with herb crust in my air fryer?

In general, breaded foods cook beautifully in the air fryer. They come out crispy and golden, but with less fat than they’d have if they were fried. Unfortunately, this specific recipe isn’t “breaded” in the usual sense, with egg or milk bonding a thin layer of crumbs to the meat or fish. The pile of loose, fluffy crumbs on these salmon fillets is more likely to blow all over your air fryer. You may find that adding another teaspoon or two of butter helps keep the crumbs from scattering too badly, but the placement and power of your air fryer’s fan is ultimately what will determine if you’re successful. In the end, it may just be simpler to make something like this air fryer salmon recipe, which has no breading.

How do I make soft bread crumbs?

It’s not hard, really. You just start with a couple of slices of fresh or day-old bread, or even some hot dog or hamburger buns left over from your last cookout. Tear them apart by hand, shred them with a pair of forks, or pulse them in your food processor until you have loose, fluffy bread crumbs.

Do I need to use skin-on salmon?

If you’re not a fan of the fish skin, you can skip it and use skinless portions. You should still put them in the pan with the skin (flat) side down, for the correct appearance. It’s worth noting that the skin helps your cooked portions hold together as you lift them from the pan. It may be worth buying them skin-on, and just leaving the skin on your plate as you eat. Remember that the skin is rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, so it’s not something to lightly discard.